Natural flocking

What could be more scenic than being surrounded by sparkling snow, painfully blue sky, and hundreds and hundreds of pre-flocked Christmas trees!?

That's where we found ourselves a week ago, at the Monarch Mountain Ski Area in central Colorado. The snow, as it often is here, was absolutely perfect: packed powder on the two days we had the aforementioned blue skies, and 3 or 4 inches of new powder the last day.

As a certified tree-hugger, I was most impressed, visually, with the wonderfully variable combinations of snow on boughs. Although the surrounding scenery isn't too shabby, either, as you can see here, on this shot looking west from the Continental Divide (at the top of the Panorama—so aptly-named—lift):

Aren't the tops of the trees just over the crest cute with their little snow hats?

Here are some more examples of perfectly-flocked trees, looking much better in their native habitat than in someone's living room.

The aforementioned Panorama lift pulls you up the mountain in this wonderful little alley between the snowiest trees

another look at trees from Panorama lift

and another look from the Divide up top

field of trees as you come down from the Divide

Even on the cloudy, snowy day, the trees still cut handsome figures:


And I'll close with another look west from the Divide's fantastic vantage point. What a magical place this is!

the rounded hill on the far right is the Tomichi Dome, and in the distance you can see the San Juans—200 miles away!

In the next few posts I'll give you more pictures and details about skiing and the rest of our fun trip.